At the CAWA 2018 annual dinner meeting, held in conjunction with Industry Week in Las Vegas, Dan Hanson, Jr. of Hanson Distributing Company was installed as the Association's 2019 Chair of the Board of Directors. Other officers installed included: Vice Chair Tom Seboldt of O'Reilly Auto Parts; Treasurer Mike Mohler of the Automotive Parts Services Group; Secretary Michael Rukov of RepWorks Marketing, and; Immediate Past Chair Jack Gosnell of Next Level Parts. 

The dinner was once again exclusively sponsored by Motorcar Parts of America. The keynote speaker of the evening was Bob Cushing, President & CEO of Worldpac and Executive Vice President of Advance Professional, who gave an informative and compelling presentation regarding the industry and its positive future going forward. Next year's event will be held, as is customary, the Sunday night (November 3, 2019) before the AAPEX and SEMA Shows. For further information regarding this event contact programs@cawa.org.

As was announced at the annual dinner gala in Las Vegas during Industry Week, CAWA has received a $25,000 grant from the University of the Aftermarket Foundation to implement a high school automotive teachers scholarship program in 2019. The Board of Director's named the scholarship program the "Motorcar Parts of America - Selwyn Joffe" award as a tribute to their gracious underwriting of CAWA's annual dinner meeting the past several years. Contact programs@cawa.org for further information.

President & CEO Rodney Pierini presents Motorcar Parts of America President & CEO, Selwyn Joffe, with a commemorative plaque naming the automotive teachers scholarship program awards "The Motorcar Parts of America - Selwyn Joffe Award"

If any CAWA members have been impacted by the fires in California, the Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation (AACF) may assist. See the application for assistance here. If you meet their requirements, AACF can get you immediate financial assistance through their natural disaster program. You can also call AACF at 916.628.0271

Essentially, the re-write ( here) says that parts could only be classified as new, used, rebuilt or reconditioned and crash parts must also be characterized as OEM or aftermarket. BAR has held this position for years, but vague terms like LKQ and Alt-OE kept appearing in estimates anyway - contrary to state regulations. See this link for further details and contact our Legislative Advocate, Gary Conover who represents CAWA and the Auto Care Association on the BAR Advisory Group, at gary@garyconover.com or 916.233.9655.

The webinar was created by Cellacore and presented some useful information about a company's thought process regarding eCommerce and presented many resources to achieve a presence of sales on the Internet. Participants were exposed to the truth about automotive eCommerce and given a comprehensive approach to making their competition irrelevant and how to dominate their market. See here for the PowerPoint presentation. Cellacore will be invited to give a similar presentation to CAWA members at our Leadership Meeting in June of next year in Santa Barbara/Goleta. For more information, contact programs@cawa.org . Another member benefit.

Recently, Cal/OSHA published its Proposed Emergency Regulatory Action on Recording and Reporting of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, as required by Assembly Bill 2334, which was signed into law last month. The new law, which takes effect on January 1, 2019, amends state occupational safety and health law regarding injury and illness recordkeeping requirements. Under the emergency regulations, certain employers must submit their Cal/OSHA 300 logs by December 31, 2018. See details here and call upon Steve Marmaduke, CAWA's attorney for clarity and questions. Steve can be reached at 916.441.2430 or smarmaduke@wilkefleury.com. Recall, as a member, you can receive up to ½ hour a month of FREE legal consultation. Another member benefit.  Source: Attorney, Alka Ramchandani-Raj

All of us have heard, pretty much since week one of our sales careers... don't take sales rejection personally. You know the mantra: "They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting your product or service." I have to admit, I agreed with that for my entire 31-year sales career until a recent experience changed my mind. See here what changed my mind. Source: John Chapin

If you haven't seen it, CAWA has an enhanced and improved website ( www.cawa.org - homepage). We have added a news feed feature and our recent posts to our Facebook and Twitter accounts. We hope you like the new look and would welcome your comments. Thanks, too, to our 2018 website sponsors, AISIN and Idemitsu Lubricants America Corp.

I'm closing down a department in my company and laying off all the employees in that department. One of the employees is on pregnancy disability leave and collecting state disability insurance (SDI). Can I lay her off? Will she lose her SDI benefits? Will she still be able to collect paid family leave in a few months if she's unemployed? See here for answers to these questions. Also, for questions like these see the CAWA attorney in your state at www.cawa.org. Recall, as a member, you can receive up to ½ hour a month of FREE legal consultation. Source of article: Our Friends at the California Chamber of Commerce

Interested in receiving a scholarship from the Association for your employees, children, family members and others who would be welcomed into the auto care industry? Applying is easy! The online application process allows students interested in aftermarket careers to submit one application each year online at www.automotivescholarships.com and receive consideration for several scholarships. Funds for scholarships come from generous CAWA members and the University of the Aftermarket Foundation. For more information, see www.cawa.org or contact CAWA Member Services at programs@cawa.org. Another member benefit.